The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-01-29
Srecia1 Contributors.
STOPPING THE SUN AND MOON.
BY REV. NJ. d. SHUTTER.
(Minneapolis.)

Mr.. Ruskin has announced his dis
belief in the uniformity of nature, and
says, if told that the sun had stood still,
he would reply, "a miracle that the
sun stands still Not at all 1 always
expected it would" The majority of
mankind, however, would differ with
Mr.. Ruskin, and conclude, if the sun
appeared stationary in the heavens,
that some stupendOu5 interference with
the machinery Of the universe had
taken place. Slighter occurrences than
halt in the heavenly bodies have been
attributed to supernatural agencies.
With those who do not stop to think
and investigate, miracle is always the
first refuge from difficulty. 1.-The ON
nipotent power of God can do anything;
let us take no further thought We
may not limit Gods power but we
must remember that he economies it,
and uses his judgment in respect to its
exercise, with all his resources. lie
never does everything that is possible;
never an unnecessary or absurd thing.
Lavish Of his love, he husbands his
strength. His universe is so ordered
that no item of force is wasted.
The passage of Scripture indicated
by the title of this article is one over
which multitudes have puzzled. The
majority have doubtless settled down
to the conviction that, however unreas-
enable the transaction seems, at the
request of Joshua the order of things
was so reversed or suspended by al
mighty power, that sun and moon
seemed to pause in their course to
lengthen the day. Scientific explana-
tions are not wanting to show how all
this might have been accomplished,
without creating any special disturb
ance upon the earth But the passage
carries its own Interpretation. The key
is given with the puzzle. The writer
himself enables us to dispense with
marvels, and free ourselves from scien-
tific rubbish. A stroke of rhetoric has
been transformed into a manifestation
of omnipotence. The figure of a poet
has turned backward the wheels of crea-
tion
"Then spake Joshua to the Lord, in
the day when the Lord delivered up the
AmOrites before the children of Israel,
and said in the sight of Israe
sun, stand thou still upon Gideon,
And thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon."
This is the prayer of Joshua; COM
pare it with a similar request in the
Had, Book IL. Agamemnon, upon the
eve of battle, offers the same petition:
'Jove greatest, Jove most glorious, sky dwell
er, cloud bedight
Let not the sun nor darkness fall, and wrap
the world in night,
Till Priam's stately palace, east in ruin low"
The idea in both is the same In the
case of Joshua, the account proceeds:
"And the sun stood still,
And the moon stayed,
Until the nation had avenged Themselves
of their enemies" "
In the Revision, the prayer of Joshua,
and what is said of its answer, are
thrown into poetic form. The poem is
followed by these words in prose ''Is
not this written in the book of J Jasher?'
Then comes the direct assertion of the
historian in prose also: And the sun
stayed in the midst of heaven, and hast
ed not to go down about whole day"
But the assertion of the historian is
based upon the lines of the poet
The way of it all seems as follows:
A certain poet indamed with national
pride aud with admiration for the great
hero who had won so signal victory,
commentaries the battle in a glowing
song So great was the slaughter, so
hard and so mighty was the work that
day accomplished, that it seems as if
the very sun and moon must have
paused in their course to give the
great leader, Joshua, time to complete
the work of destruction. The work
was too great for an ordinary day. The
sun aud moon fought for him, as the
stars fought against Sisera. And there
was no day like that before it or after
it, that the Lord hardened unto the
voice Of a man; for the Lord fought for
Israel" This is the way in which the
battle was treated by a poet. The his
torian either took the poem for fact,
OF m )deled his paragraph upon the